Concert Rockinghorse & Rough Justice

The new year got off to an interesting, and, to some, a mentally profitable start with the Friday night concert presenting Rockinghorse and Rough Justice. First up were Rockinghorse in their 'new' form.... Kevin Bayley on superb and various guitar and voice, Wayne Mason on keyboards and voice, Clinton Brown on funk-bass, and Jim Lawrey, the tin man, on drums and oddities. Also exhibiting himself for the crowd's amusement and the joys of music was Midge (Flyer) Marsden on wailing harp, percussion and movement.

From Rockinghorse emerged both familiar and new sounds, the most memorable, for me, being "Long Distance Love", with Kevin's vocals and guitar wrenching a sigh from anyone listening. (Interestingly enough. Rough Justice performed the same, later on in the long night and, while Kevin and the rest are not quite up to Little Feat's 'quality', Rick Bryant, in this, could not improve upon Kevin's 'interpretation',)

Yet, Rough Justice.... an old/new, wonderful-boogie band.... left the audience gaping. People seemed not to have heard such sounds for many a year, if ever; Tamla Motown instead of disco? That provided grounds for them either to dribble away to more familiar sources of entertainment, or to stay and look on in admiration. First of all, Bryant's voice (moving easily from Lowell George to James Brown to Joe Cocker to Pigpen) is capable of laying members of the audience on the ground, in imitation of dead bugs (and there was evidence of this phenomenon).

Not to mention the band—small, confident, assured and very capable guitar, drums and string bass—which conjured' up sound that, unfortunately, is not always compatible with Hotel managers' ideas of the "new sound". I mean, who on earth plays Steve Stills so that it turns out like B.B. King and gets away with it? And who takes buzzing breaks between numbers, leaving a cloud of suspense in the air, only to announce a tune called "Walking through the pines" about "a guy on mandrax"? And—who, these strange days, plays "Heard it through the grapevine" and Aretha Franklin's "Eight Days on the Road" incorporating boozy, sleazy sax?

By this stage of the concert, those hoping for a disco evening had trickled away, leaving Rough Justice to get into the "Angry Blues" and "Fool Yourself". All in all, this music is exceptional—to those who find novelty a much needed whiff of fresh air.

There were many pairs of overalls and fifth formers in evidence. I just hope that everyone got something new out of this experience because this is what the varsity musical world really needs—a shot of rhythm and blues?

— Gray Slack

Records 331/3

Well kiddies another year at Victoria University is underway. I know that soon all you nice young girls and boys will be hard at work in tireless pursuit of better grades and higher standards. We are all here for the sole purpose of attaining excellence and accumulating knowledge in our chosen fields, and any deviations from this path can surely only lead to failure and disgrace. We must bear in mind that we are the leaders of tomorrow, and that hard work and unquestioning, blind obedience are the foundations of true democracy.

But if any of you falter in your steps or fall by the wayside, it could be to your advantage to listen to 33 1/3 by George Harrison.

Once again, Harrison has assembled a band of very capable musicians, consisting of old faithfuls Billy Preston (kybds, Afro wig) Willie Weeks (bass, frisbee) and Newcomer Gary Wright, who along with Tom Scott (sax. flute) and Alvin Taylor (drums), have all given Harrison's unique talent a good airing.

Ever since Harrison went solo, occasional flashes of the brilliance he displayed within the Beatles framework have been tempered and overshadowed by some rather, dare I say it, boring music. Harrisons pet subject, i.e. devotion and love for that big record producer in the sky coupled with sage observations on the evils of materialism, makes for rather uninspiring music. Another major reason for the apparent dreariness of a lot of his work is his voice, which never seems to convey much emotion. Whether singing "Apple Scruffs" or "Living in the Material World," the inflections, accent, etc do not vary substantially.

But in this, his latest album, his song writing has improved enough to balance things out a bit more. The album as a whole is very easy to listen to and contains two strikingly beautiful compositions.

For me the high point of the album is "Beautiful Girl". This just knocked me the first time I played it, and continues to do so with each playing. It's just perfect from the intro (which sounds like Focus's "Love Remembered", by the way) to the last chord. I cannot say much more than that other than it is up there with "Something" and "My Sweet Lord" as one of Harrison's all time greats.

Side Two contains 1 excellent track, 1 almost excellent track, 2 good tracks, and 1 mediocre. Is that explicit enough? Well, okay then, the last track is almost as good as "Beautiful Girl", it's called "Learning to Love You," and is dedicated to Herbie Alpert. The rest of this side complements Side 1, and even contains a Cole Porter song.

I hope by now you've got the message that this album is worth buying. Harrison isn't out to change the world, he's just a very talented and (dare I say it) mellow human being. His music reflects this, but comes nowhere near the easy listening category. I'd buy it just for the solo on "Learning to Love You." Marty Wood.

Love to Ploy and Sing

For those of you who have been unconscious for the last year. Salty Dogg are one of New Zealand's better bands. Their following has been earned through much touring and consistent performance, and believe me, on a good night they can move.

So what happened to the record?

Mike Harvey, the man the ivories and assorted keyboards, has written 6 of the 9 tracks, the remainder being one each from Chris Gunn (bass) Graham Chapman (Id. vols) and Martin Winch. Although the playing is of a consistently high standard only one number, Mike Harvey's Genesis Parts 1&2 gives any indication that this band is yet another Creation or Formyula. The rest of the songs have lyrics that would be laughed at by a cretin.

I though lyrics like that had disappeared with Happen-lnn and the Loxene Golden Disc Awards. Why must a band like this, with two extremely talented musicians such as Harvey and Winch, waste their time on muzak like this? Each track has faultless musicianship, with some beautiful solos coming from Winch, but songs like the title track "Love to Play and Sing" just make the whole album tacky.

I find this album sadly lacking in originality, which has disappointed me up till now I imagined Salty Dogg to be capable of their capabilities. Go and see them next time they're in town.

— Marty Wood